MEDIA ADVISORY-- New Mexico Hope Initiative Partners to Discuss Impact of DEA’s National Take Back Initiative on New Mexico’s Opioid Epidemic

ALBUQUERQUE – U.S. Attorney Damon P. Martinez, Bernalillo County Commissioner Maggie Hart Stebbins, City Councilor Diane Gibson, and Ryan P. Cangiolosi, Chief Strategic Advisor for UNM’s Health Sciences Center, will join DEA Assistant Special Agent in Charge Sean R. Waite at 12:00 p.m. (noon) on Saturday, April 30, 2016, at a DEA Drug Take Back collection site in Albuquerque, N.M., to discuss the impact of DEA’s National Take Back Initiative on New Mexico’s opioid epidemic.  This media opportunity is part of the prevention and education component of the New Mexico Heroin and Opioid Prevention and Education (HOPE) Initiative.

WHO:            

U.S. Attorney Damon P. Martinez

Asst. Special Agent in Charge Sean R. Waite, DEA Albuquerque District Office

Bernalillo County Commissioner Maggie Hart Stebbins, District 3

City Councilor Diane Gibson, District 7

Ryan P. Cangiolosi, Chief Strategic Advisor, Office of Strategy and Engagement at the UNM Health Sciences Center

WHEN:         

SATURDAY, APRIL 30, 2016

12:00 p.m., noon 

WHERE:      

DEA Drug Take Back Collection Site

Walgreens

8400 Montgomery NE

Albuquerque, NM 87111

OPEN PRESS

The HOPE Initiative was launched in January 2015 by the UNM Health Sciences Center and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in response to the national opioid epidemic that has had a disproportionately devastating impact on New Mexico.  Opioid addiction has taken a toll on public safety, public health and the economic viability of our communities.  Working in partnership with Bernalillo County, DEA, Healing Addiction in our Community (HAC) and other community stakeholders, HOPE’s principal goals are to protect our communities from the dangers associated with heroin and opioid painkillers and reducing the number of opioid-related deaths in New Mexico.  The HOPE Initiative is comprised of five components:  (1) prevention and education; (2) treatment; (3) law enforcement; (4) reentry; and (5) strategic planning.  Learn more about the New Mexico HOPE Initiative at http://www.HopeInitiativeNM.org.